Every living organism needs energy to perform various metabolic activities. Nutrition in plants is obtained by the process of photosynthesis. Nutrition in animals is obtained by eating plants or other animals. So, animal nutrition requires the intake of food and its utilisation. The intake of food depends on the types of animals.
CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR EATING HABITS
Animals can be classified on the basis of their eating habits as follows.
- Herbivorous animals
- Carnivorous animals
- Omnivorous animals
- Parasites
- Scavengers
Food components consumed by animals are complex substances. They cannot be utilised in the same way. So they need to be broken down into smaller particles. The process of breaking down of food components into smaller particles is known as digestion.
DIGESTION IN HUMANS
Human beings take food through their mouth. It then passes through the human alimentary canal, where food is churned and mixed with certain enzymes for the proper breakdown. Nutrients are then absorbed, and the remaining waste is ejected out.
The human alimentary canal or digestive tract can be divided into 6 parts moving down. First, the buccal cavity is present in the mouth area, where food is chewed with the help of teeth. The tongue mixes the saliva with food for the breakdown of food. Then it passes through the food pipe, where the food is pushed down into the stomach by the movement of the food pipe. When it reaches the stomach, it is mixed with the gastric juice secreted by the wall of the stomach for the further breakdown of food. At this stage, food is transformed into a semi-solid form. It is then moved to the small intestine. Here, food nutrients are absorbed by the villi, outgrowths of the small intestine and then transferred to the entire body through blood vessels. The remaining waste product is then transferred to the large intestine, where excess water and salt are absorbed from the waste product. In the end, the final waste is ejected through the anus. The above parts and the process constitute the human digestive system.
NUTRITION IN GRASS-EATING ANIMALS
FEEDING AND DIGESTION IN AMOEBA
Nutrition of animals basically deals with the intake of food and its utilisation. In this article, we understood about the different types of animals. How do they intake food? How do they utilise the nutrients of food? This is what explains animal nutrition. Get model solutions for the chapter Nutrition in Animals and step-by-step procedure to all questions in NCERT textbooks only at BYJU’S.
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